May 19th was such an amazing success! Because of the funds you raised in our most successful Spring Fling yet, you will get to see the playground transform very soon! If anyone has pictures of the night please forward them to info@opfs.org.

As I write this title I think of how many ways that Grace can be used. It can mean the prayer before a meal, a royal title, it can be a noun and a verb...but at it's root, it means to give thanks. And when I think of the word Grace, to me it means making space for others to have the space to be who and how they are in the world. Grace - the space to make mistakes and do the best you can.

As our kids move on from OPFS, I hope this is one lesson we have all, both kids and parents, have learned: We are all doing our best. We are all trying to figure out this world, this country, this day. Grace can be that force where we acknowledge that, and allows another to just breath, knowing that their effort has been recognized. Though we all may strive for perfection or success, acknowledging that we are all trying to do our best at any given moment is an act of Grace that we don't often feel or give. I know as my own kids grow older, Grace and Forgiveness have become some of the most powerful lessons that I have given myself.

So as we celebrate the year this week, and the movement from class to class to come in the fall, we say goodbye to some teachers who are moving on. Ms. Paige will continue to be here and there in the summer Purple Room as she completes her observation hours for her masters in Early Childhood. She will be leaving in the fall to student teach and complete her masters. Ms. Brittany, who has been subbing in the Purple Room will be in the Purple Room over the summer and in other classrooms as she prepares for her wedding and her student teaching as well in the fall to complete her masters in teaching! Congratulations to you both!

Tuition Box

By the front door there is now a lock box to place tuition. There are pens and envelopes on the cubbies if you want to place you payment in an envelope. This way if Chloe, Jessica or Talley are busy, you have a safe place to put your tuition!

Updates:

Birthday Book Club!

Our birthday book club is underway and we've started adding books to our classroom libraries with our September birthdays. A huge thanks to Yellow Room parent, Sandi Carr for designing the adorable book plates for us! If you want to join the birthday book club, or have questions, please email Jessica at info@opfs.org.

﻿ We're more than happy to have your child come an extra days when needed and when space is available. We love being able to help when we can! Just note that each day will be billed as an individual day and not the average rate of the total days attended. For instance: If your child regularly attends 3 days/week and you need to add 1 day next week, you will be billed the 3 day per week rate + 1 day per week instead of the 4 day per week monthly rate for that week. If you're confused or want to talk about this policy, please email info@opfs.org or talk to Jessica.

Parent Council - June 19th, 8PM - If you would like to contact our Parent Council, please send an email to
parentcouncil@opfs.org. If you have parent concerns or issues please feel free to email the Parent Council in advance of the meeting so you can be placed on the agenda.

Oh Baby! - If you are planning to add to your family within the next two years, please make sure to email Jessica at info@opfs.org to get on our waiting list. At this point there is about an 18 to 24 month wait for a spot.

Facebook - To connect with OPFS via Facebook you can join the closed parent group and/or like our Facebook page. Here are the links for both:

Hello Purple Room families, last week was transportation week. We played with lots of big trucks, looked at cars when we went for walks and even got to see a fire truck! This week is water week, where we will be outside enjoying the beautiful weather and getting into lots of water activities.

Please be on the lookout this week as we will be sending home winter/ warm clothes and asking you to bring in summer items as this is the last week of the school year and summer starts next week!

Also please make sure you are using pin to check child in and out everyday.

Last week we revisited activities from throughout the year. We dug for dinos, hammered gold tees into a watermelon and reviewed vocabulary from past lessons.

This week's is our last week of the school year. Although transitions won't be until August, our graduation is this Thursday May 31st at 4pm. We will have a short week full of fun activities like making tie dye t-shirts, autograph cards and of course preparing for graduation!

Please remember the weekly items:

Blanket and water bottle.

Always remember to sing your child in and out using your pin on a tablet. And keep an eye out for your child's daily tadpoles report for pictures and notes.

We were able to discuss the different type of bugs, where they live, how they travel and what they eat. We started with our classroom caterpillars by doing investigation on what happens from beginning to end when they turn into butterflies. The activities included sorting bugs into muffin pans, creating bugs out of pipe cleaners and other materials completing worksheets about bugs along with writing the name of the bugs on the papers . We also had a collection of bugs made out of actual rocks and stones. They were decorated like caterpillars, ladybugs, bees, and beetles. Friday we spent a large portion of the day outdoors enjoying the Summer-like weather. The children enjoyed getting sprinkled with water with a spray bottle and a watering can.

This week the Yellow Room kids worked hard planting flowers in the front yard raised flower bed. Once planted, they went out daily to water the plants (and each other) with spray bottles. We also painted river rocks to decorate both our OPFS garden and our home gardens. These will come home next week once the Modge-Podge sealant fully dries. Some of the children worked on creating their end-of-year self-portraits. These will be included in their memory books. It is fun to compare them to the portraits created earlier in the year. We continued to discuss the end of the school year and removed a link from our countdown chain each day. Only 3 links left! Last day of class will be next Thursday.

Hello everyone! Hope you had a wonderful Memorial weekend. This past week we had so much fun learning about Insects and Bugs. Our friends had a blast exploring all types of bugs and insects! We enjoyed finding all the different types of insects inside our sensory table using magnifying glasses. Our friends practice their great manners as they took turns using the magnifying glasses to explore bugs. We then played some fun games and pretended to be insects. Our preschoolers made different movements of insects throughout the classroom. We even made the movement of a grasshopper! Making the movement of a grasshopper made our friends very giggly! At the end, we learned about the lifecycle of a caterpillar and how it becomes a beautiful butterfly. Our friends had the opportunity to look at a real-life caterpillar becoming a butterfly. We were so engaged in learning about the lifecycle of a caterpillar that our friends had so many curious questions of how a caterpillar evolves and form into a butterfly or a moth. Overall, it was a great week!

This week we are going to focus on Memories and Graduation! Just a friendly reminder that our Green Room Graduation Ceremony and Party are Wednesday May30th, at 3:30pm. Please remember to empty out cubbies and water bottles to take home on the last day of school before summer camp begins. On Thursday as a celebration of our last day of school. We will be watching a movie called “The Ant Bully”. Here’s to another great week!